Day three. I hope everyone has been enjoying the stream of a chapter a day. This one is very good, I know my editor, who is hard to please, is quite fond of this one. She also named the chapter, so shout out to you my lovely editor! Enjoy :D

Chapter 37

The Clashing of Wills

I looked at Koluk. "Ready?"

"You know I am," he responded.

We charged forward to where the battle was ensuing. The tanks were the biggest problems, and there were a lot of them. In the chaos, I got separated from Wei and Koluk. The streets were too cramped for my liking; a soldier was always waiting around a corner. I climbed to the roof of a house and jumped from roof to roof using my bow and water bending to attack.

I saw an open area with a group of Fire Nation soldiers in it, attacking two Water Tribe swordsmen, and an idea occurred to me. I lifted up my hands and created a cloud of steam around the soldiers. I jumped to the ground and went into the fog. I used my stealth training to stay hidden. I took out the men one by one, saving the two Water Tribe swordsmen. Soon, only a fire bender was left, and he was shooting attacks in all directions.

"Where are you?" He shouted.

I was directly in front of him, but he couldn't see me. I dissipated the fog in a swirling motion. I saw the two swordsmen I had saved going after a komodo-rhino nearby. I had an engaging fight with the fire bender. He threw several fireballs at me. I rolled to get out of the way. I let the power of the full moon fill me. He threw attack after attack. I blocked every single one and advanced on him. He backed into a wall. I whipped some water around and froze him to the wall.

A tank rolled into the courtyard. I flipped toward it, splashing freezing water on it, then froze it. Three fire benders emerged from behind a building. I dispatched all three with a single wave. Suddenly, soldiers, tanks, and rhinos charged me from all directions. I did the water spout move where I rise up on a torrent of water. I went about fifty feet into the air. I could see most of the battle from up there. Fireballs came at me from all directions. I spun, blocking them all and launching some of my own ice and water balls. I sent two tanks tumbling away. Another, I sliced in half just as the soldiers jumped out. I entered Stage One. I whipped water around everywhere. Soldiers were thrown all over the place. I lost count of how many I had taken out, but it was well over thirty. I was unstoppable.

I heard a voice. I couldn't make out any words, but I knew the voice. I saw a black stream of smoke circling me. I heard the voice again.

"Stop," the Robed Man whispered. "Stop now. If you continue this, you doom everything and everyone you know."

My water spout collapsed, and I fell to the ground as I came out of Stage One. I managed to slow my descent with some water bending, but I was exhausted. I hit the ground hard.

"If the Fire Nation wins, everyone is doomed anyway. I won't cower in the dark from you any more!" I yelled at him.

I did a few swirling kicks on my hands and swirled water in all directions, freezing soldiers, tanks, and rhinos in their advance.

"You have made your choice," the Robed Man said, appearing before me.

"Yes, and I will defeat you!" I screamed, slashing my sword through him.

He vanished in a puff of dark smoke. It was eerily quiet now. I walked out of the courtyard. I ran toward the wall where most of the fight was happening. I saw Pakku also using the water spout move. He crashed into the ground, sending out a shockwave. I joined him in the fight.

I spared a look back towards the city. I saw Wei directing the battle from far back. He was launching strategic, long ranged attacks to help us out. I saw him collapse part of the wall to block up a hole the soldiers were marching through. I could see a battle swarming around the building he was standing on. He made a cloud of steam by me and Pakku. We charged in and dispatched a group of soldiers.

I was soon separated from Pakku, and I met up with Koluk. We fought side by side. The Water Tribe was winning. We were pushing the Fire Nation back.

Suddenly, everything went red. A great red light shown down. I looked up at the moon to see it had turned red. I couldn't water bend anymore, and I felt really faint. I fell to my knees.

"Hyriu!" Koluk cried and ran to my side. "Are you alright?"

"I can't bend, and I feel faint. I think the Moon Spirit is in trouble, and it is effecting me," I said and unsheathed my sword. "But that doesn't mean I can't fight."

We saw that every other water bender had lost their bending also. I saw the Fire Nation was winning now. Without water benders, we were being crushed. I fought as best I could, but we got backed into a group of houses. Every swing of my sword was a strain. I got several nasty gashes, and one of the swordsmen disarmed me. Before he could do anything, I tackled him to the ground. We wrestled around a bit when I suddenly felt power in me again. The silver-blue light shone back in-place of the red. In a few quick motions, I took out all the soldiers surrounding us. A fire bender came at me and shot a fireball.

Time seemed to slow. I tried to raise some water to block the attack, but everything dimmed. I lost all my power. The water I had managed to lift up began to fall back down to the ground. I opened my mouth in a shout. The fire rushed at me. Everything went black.

Hyriu looked at me. "Ready?"

"You know I am," I responded.

We charged into the battle. Hyriu got separated from us in the chaos. I saw that Wei fought with an ice staff that he water bended. He would break it over one guy's head, only to reform it to take on another guy. Sometimes, he would melt the staff and use it as a water whip.

I was amazed with Wei's skill. Hyriu was an exceptional fighter, but he had ferocious power; Wei fought strategically. A group of soldiers surrounded him. He moved quickly to each soldier doing the same thing; he put a circle of ice on their ankle, wrist, or waist. Soon, all of the soldiers had a little trinket from Wei. He stood in the center of the group and brought his hands close to his chest, then shot them out. All of the soldiers went flying in all directions . From what I could tell was that Wei had taken control of the ice he had put on each soldier, and he sent the ice away from himself, so the ice pulled the soldiers with it.

I fought next to Wei, and we worked as a team. He was the general; I was the foot soldier. We made it near the main courtyard by the wall where most of the fighting was taking place. I saw a Fire Nation woman fighting. She carried a katana that steamed and glowed with a hint of orange. Wei met her in battle. His ice staff against her steaming sword. Every time the ice met the blade, a small explosion occurred. I could tell the woman was very talented, but her style was rough and definitely not Fire Nation, but very violent.

A fireball landed nearby, and the explosion knocked them both to the ground. They both got up and looked at their wounded comrades. They seemed to have a mutual agreement to not attack the other. Wei went to help his fallen tribesmen. The woman, however, walked right past the other Fire Nation soldiers.

I heard a cry from behind me. I looked and saw several soldiers coming at me. I quickly fought them. Then the same woman who had fought Wei came around a corner. Without thinking, I attacked her. She disarmed me almost immediately with a bored expression. I tripped and fell. I backed into a wall. Now that I could see her up close, I saw she was only in her early twenties.

She sighed. "I'm not feeling it today. I just don't feel like killing a kid right now. How 'bout you? Do you feel like dying today?"

I hesitated, confused, then shook my head.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she said and leaned on her sword which she stuck in the ground.

An official looking fire bender walked up to her. "Sergeant, what are you doing?" He demanded. "We are launching an invasion right now!"

The woman looked around with mock surprise. "Really? Huh, look at that, we are. I thought we were here just for the smooth sailing."

"What are you doing standing around. I have given you your orders, so follow them. You do as I say!" The commander said.

She whipped her sword around and pointed it directly at the guy's face, the point an inch from his forehead. The blade glowed cherry red. The commander was sweating heavily despite the cold weather.

"Now you listen to me, Commander. I do as only I say, got it? No amount of 'power' will change that. I suggest you go back to commanding, Commander." She said, her voice deadly calm.

"Are you threatening me?" He inquired.

"Do you feel threatened?" She challenged, moving the sword closer to his forehead.

The commander gulped. "Perhaps I was being a bit, ah, forward. My apologies."

She lowered her sword slightly. He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. Two solders seized the woman.

"Sergeant, you are being arrested for treason," the commander said.

The woman growled and kicked one man between the legs, and the other got her elbow in the face. I took off running, grabbing my sword before anything else happened. I met up with Wei again, and he jumped on top of a building. He told me to guard him while he sent long ranged attacks into the courtyard by the wall.

Soon, Wei got his ice staff back and joined me in the fight. He sent me to try and find Hyriu. It didn't take long to find him. We fought the soldiers as a team, and we were winning.

Suddenly, the moon gave off a red light. I saw Hyriu fall to his knees. I ran over to him.

"Hyriu! Are you alright?" I asked.

"I can't bend," he said. "And I feel faint. I think the Moon Spirit is in trouble, and it's effecting me. But that doesn't mean I can't fight."

He drew his sword, and we engaged the soldiers. I saw other water benders couldn't bend either. I saw Hyriu was having trouble fighting. I fought ferociously for both of us. I didn't come all the way here with Hyriu to lose. I disarmed solder after soldier. No matter what kind of weapon they had, I took them down.

The blue light of the moon retuned. Hyriu jumped up and shot all the soldiers around us with water. A fire bender shot some fire at him. Just as Hyriu started to block it, everything went dark. I saw the fire surged around Hyriu, and he fell to the ground.

"No!" I cried and began fighting the fire bender.

I had dropped my sword, so I just had my hands while he had fire. I had watched Hyriu practice, and I had even practiced with him. I used that training to dodge all of the fireballs. I managed to get in a few good hits, and he lost his footing. I took him to the ground. I slammed his head down, knocking him unconscious.

I ran to Hyriu. He was unconscious and had a lot of burns, but only a few looked serious, and they were small.

A group of swordsmen surrounded me. I quickly grabbed my sword from the ground and fought them. While I was fighting them, I saw the full moon had disappeared from the sky. That was why everything went dark. I was able to take out a few soldiers, but they were overwhelming me. I got a slash across my chest. Another got my right arm and my left leg. I dropped to my knees in pain and dropped my sword. One of the soldiers leveled a sword with my chest.

A great blue light suddenly shone next to us. We both looked and saw a large being made of water and light. I could see the Avatar at the being's center. From the looks of it, he went into the Avatar State and was wiping out all of the soldiers in the city. The being looked at the soldiers threatening me. In an instant, a rush of glowing water took them out. The being moved on.

All of the soldiers were either taken care of by the Avatar or fled the city. The giant water-Avatar being went into the ocean and began fighting the ships.

I turned to Hyriu, but he was still unconscious. I listened for a heart beat; it was faint, and it sounded like he was having trouble breathing. I began calling for help. I didn't know what anyone could do, since the moon was still gone, so no one could water bend, but I didn't care. I yelled anyway.

The moon returned for some reason. I didn't know what had been going on with it, but now that it was back, someone could heal Hyriu.

Hyriu woke up. He tried to say something, but he winced in pain. I could see the inside of his mouth was severely burned. I helped him to his feet, and we limped to the Healing Huts. I saw Master Pakku, and he helped me hold Hyriu up. I filled him in on what happened. He didn't know anymore about the moon than I did.

We got to the Healing Huts. Yugoda was swarmed, so we went to Hushi, the healer Hyriu had seen before. She first fed Hyriu some herbs to sooth his mouth and throat. Then she swirled some water around, and it started to glow.

"Now, Hyriu," she said, "this is going to feel weird, but try not to move."

He nodded. She swirled the water into his mouth. I watched with fascination as she healed him. Wei came over to us. I told him what had happened. Wei looked at Hushi with a concerned expression.

"Don't worry," she said, "he is going to be alright."

Quite a climatic chapter I'd say. Well only two left to go now. My editor and I are working on a little treat for you all, hopefully it will be done soon. I am going to do a sort of 'extras' chapter after the book 1 is over. I will discuss certain plot points, reveal what could have happened, other things of that sort as well as what is to come in book 2. If you would like me to discuss something specific, please leave a review or message me on what you'd like me to explain or talk about. Chapter 38: The Sacrifice of Victory, tomorrow.